strange turn of events-- constipation

[miriam]

Hi all,
I've been struggling with diarrhea, abdominal pain, and nausea for a long time (diagnosed w lymphocytic colitis, proctitis, and celiac disease) and have tried multiple treatments (diet and meds), with slow recent improvement, particularly with my diarrhea. On Friday, I had the worst abdominal pain I've ever had, that lasted for over 10 hours-- I eventually went to the ER and ironically, an X-ray showed that I was constipated (apparently my colon was completely full of stool, even though I had two bowel movements the previous day). I was given two water enemas and have been taking miralax for the past few days, in addition to gradually increasing the amount of fiber in my diet. For the past year, I have been following an extremely low fiber diet and doing all I can to decrease diarrhea! I now have diarrhea again, although never feel like I've completed a bowel movement. I suspect this is from the miralax, but am curious if anyone has experienced such a shift. I also started taking a z-pac recently, to treat a microplasma pneumonia infection (from a functional medicine doctor-- I've been taking it every other day, 12 pills) and suspect this might be related to my sudden change (I am also taking a probiotic). I'm in the process of tapering off entocort (I started 9 mg in March 2014 and have been tapering since December- I've been on 3 mg for the past 6 weeks). I'm hoping this is ultimately a good sign, that my system is starting to heal and I've pushed it too far in one direction, but would love to hear thoughts/if others have experienced anything similar...

thanks!

[CarolAnn]

If you can go back to the Main Message board. I just joined to day. You will see a similarity as what happen to me. I posted. I think I am there is anyone else having struggles. Carol Ann

Oh so sorry for you. What a terrible ordeal to have the water enemas. I thought they used fleet. My Mom used to give them when I was 10. I took back my probiotic tabs back again last two days. As my dietitian back then put me on them as they heal the gut.

She was astonished as why Specialist would do that.

[fatbuster205]

Hi Miriam and Carol Ann,
I so know where you are coming from. I went from constant D to C about two years ago inculding impactions which produced a lot of pain. I still am plagued by frequent BMs but I have done the opposite to most people here and vastly increased my veg intake and the result is Norman although still 2-4 times a day. Apparently you can still experience D even when suffering with C! If you are still on Entocort and experiencing C then it could well be that you need to come off it soon. It is more common than you would think to suffer these symptoms.

A word of warning - I am surprisingly intolerant to very few things (luckily) - gluten and dairy are the two main atagonists for me. I eat very little bread of any type but eat tonnes of salad and vegan/vegetarian food with just small amounts of animal protein a couple of times a week. It seems to be working for me but most people on this forum would be crippled by my diet. A lot have gone down the enterolab route and that is something to consider.

Hope you feel better soon - this is a great place to find answers and support!

Anne

[Gabes-Apg]

Miriam,
With the amount of changes in a short period of time it is difficult to provide suggestion as to the issue...

My advice, stop the items from functional doc. Ascertain if the entocort needs further reduction to avoid the C

Get your entocort dosage /Bm cycle in balance before changing diet /adding in probiotics etc.

The other suggestion, are you taking Vit D3? Or have you had your level checked?
Oral intake of magnesium is a gentle way to minimise C issues. And Magnesium is an essential mineral. C, joint pain etc can actually be an indicator of Magnesium deficiency...